Penzance's young performance players are being given the opportunity to visit National High Performance centres and train with other top players from around the country as part of their new tennis performance landscape accreditation, writes Birte Hosken.

The first visit took place in Exeter last weekend with 10 players from the Penzance Mini Performance Centre taking part in an academy day organised by Charlotte Wallace, Head of Performance at the Exeter Tennis Centre.

Robert Hepworth, Penzance's Mini Tennis Performance coach said: "The kids had a wonderful time training at another centre and it was a great experience for them to be hitting against other players from top performance centres."

The next visit will take the young players to the High Performance Centre at West Hants Tennis Academy.

Penzance Tennis Club will again be running the popular Mini Tennis Camps over the half-term break. The sessions will be held on Tuesday, October 30 from 10am-noon and Friday, November 2 from 10am-noon. Anyone interested please contact Martin Coates, Tennis Manager, on 07787124003 or email mjctennis@gmail.com

Conor Polyblank, one of the assistant coaches at Penzance Tennis Club, has recently passed his Level 2 coaching award.

Mentored by tennis manager Martin Coates, Conor has been working at the club as part of the mini junior coaching team on a weekly basis.

Martin said: "I am very proud of our older juniors at the club. Our younger juniors see them as role models and we are lucky to be able to call on some great young people to help with our tennis programme."

In partnership with Mounts Bay Academy, Martin Coates and Neil Eddy will be setting up a Tennis Leaders course for older juniors who are starting out on a tennis career pathway. Details to follow soon.

With Penzance C enjoying another weekend off before starting their Babolat Winter Mixed League campaign, Penzance A suffered a heavy home defeat at the hands of Hayle A on Sunday morning.

However, there was better news for Penzance B, who visited league novices Tremough Tennis at Falmouth Tennis Club. Fielding a strong team they won 8-5 in a closely fought contest on Saturday afternoon.

Penzance D made the short journey to Hayle B, only to abandon play after heavy showers made tennis on hardcourts impossible. The match will be re-scheduled.

Angling

NEWS FROM MOUNTS BAY ANGLING SOCIETY:

Last Sunday brought good autumn weather and some superb fish for the club's annual Open Competition, again sponsored by Consols Oils, writes David Cains.

One of the best one-day weigh-ins for a long time saw 12 fish over 100% judged against the CFSA One Day Weights List, meaning that two 100% fish caught by Paddy Rule and Steve Beer did not win prizes with their thornback ray of 8-11-1 and ballan wrasse of 4-8-0 respectively.

The top fish on the day winning the £200 cash first prize was a pollack 6-7-8 (143.704%) caught by Jason Harris of Camborne. In second place was Mark Putt of Geevor with a pollack 6-6-5 (142.087%) – £100 tackle voucher and in third place Kevin Griffiths (no club but past junior of MBAS) with a pollack 6-3-0 (137.482%) – £60 tackle voucher.

The best fish by a junior was a mackerel of 1-6-2 (100.641%) by Harrison Southworth, of Truro City SAC, and Ethan Gould, of MBAS, was second with a pollack of 2-8-14 (56.737%). Harrison received a £20 tackle voucher and Ethan a £10 tackle voucher.

Thanks to all of the sponsors and poster advertisers for their support and special thanks to Consols Oils.

RAOB B moved up a place to third spot after they won 7-5 against The Croft A, after B Allen was again a strong contender for the division's highest finish which he last won in the 2010-2011 season when he shot out on 170. This time he shot out on 167 with an 18 leg and 10 tons. Other good darts came from G Buckingham with a 180, M Nicholls 17 leg, P Harvey 19 leg and S Allen 11 tons.

Astro Nomads were 9-3 winners over Longboat Steelers with J Westren hitting a 180 along with 20 and 21 legs. L Jones finished on 107 with a 20 leg, while J Millard hit 11 tons. For the Steelers, J Robinson hit a 15 leg with a 110 finish and 10 tons.

The Cornish Arms beat Ludgvan SC B 9-3 to remain one point behind the Nomads, with both C Hampton and G Elliott hitting 180s, while A Dunn and D Mitchell both threw a 20 leg apiece. Ludgvan's I Sawkins threw 19 and 20 legs with 12 tons while C Stephens hit 11 tons.

Division Two: Longboat Vikings had their match with Astro Kings cancelled, so Wellington moved into top spot after beating third placed Royal Standard A 7-5, with D Taskis hitting a 180, also shooting out on 117 with an 18 leg and 12 tons.

Division Three: The Bath Inn opened up a 12 point lead at the top after beating Ludgvan SC A 8-4, with M Turner hitting a 20 leg with eight tons. JF Berriman threw a 21 leg for Ludgvan, who slip to third place, and replaced in second spot by the Standard Gwinear A, who drew 6-6 with Trevelyan Arms.

Gwinear's A Reynolds shot out on 102 in the team game before finishing on 107 in the singles, while N Hurrell threw a 21 leg.

Mousehole RBL B are level on points with Trevelyan after they defeated bottom team Astro Arrows 7-5, helped by J Tonkin's 180.

A Zakarauskas also threw a 180 for the Mexico Inn as well as shooting out on 110, while team-mate M Gendall threw six tons in an 8-4 defeat to the London Inn.

The Standard Gwinear B will play their match with the Old Success at a later date.

Division Four: Leaders the Fishermans were held to a 6-6 draw with the Astro Arrows, for whom R Hart hit a 180 against R Handy, who scored seven tons in his 2-1 win for the Fishermans.

Gulval Cricket Club closed the gap at the top to only four points after their huge 11-1 win at RAOB D, with M Winters finishing on 100. R Landricombe saved the whitewash after winning his singles game.

K Brockman threw seven tons for RAOB C who remain third after a big 10-2 win over the Globe, despite being out-tonned by the home team whose T Osborne threw a 180. J Phillips hit six tons, while G Strick went one better with seven and L Williams shot out on 75 (25/Bull).

Finally, the Red Lion and Astro C fought out a 6-6 draw, with G Jacobs hiting seven tons for the Astro.

Golf

LOCAL CLUBS' ROUND-UP:

West Cornwall teenager Matt Richards shot a brilliant one under par round for 37 Stableford points to win the second round of the Cornwall Winter Golf Series at Bowood Park on Sunday, writes Peter Heyman.

The first round at West Cornwall last month had to be cancelled due to torrential rain and gale-force winds. But conditions were perfect this time and the long-hitting 19-year-old, who plays off a plus one handicap, took full advantage.

He had two points to spare ahead of Perranporth's Chris Brown on 35, who pipped the host club's Josh Greenaway for the runners-up spot on countback.

Richards was also second in the handicap section on 36 points, one behind two-handicapper Brown on 37, while Bowood's head greenkeeper Rob Cook was third on 35.

The next round of the Series is due to be played at Perranporth on Sunday, November 11.

Former West Cornwall assistant professional Maria Tulley, now teaching pro at Wellshurst Golf and Country Club in Sussex, is currently preparing for the Ladies' European Tour School, which will be held in Marrakech in Morocco in December.

After four rounds the top 70 and ties will go through to the final week when, after four more rounds, the top 50 will play in the fifth and final round. The top 30 will then be awarded their full Tour card, but those further down the pecking order can still win invitations to some events and also get regular tournament play on the LET's feeder tours.

Tulley, 24, who finished fifth in this year's WPGA One Day Series Order of Merit, faces a tough task to win a full Tour card, but as she says: "Even if I don't get my tour card this year, I am excited to be playing full time and with the season I've just had everything is finally going in the right direction.

"I am also trying to build up my following/fan base as well, so if people want to follow me on twitter @mariapro86, all my results etc will be there, as well as on my website www.mariatulleygolf.co.uk"

In very wet conditions at Cape Cornwall the ladies' section played two rounds of medal golf to find out who would become this year's club champion.

Rosalie Thomas took the best net prize with 161 over the 36 holes. The gross prize was decided on countback and Fiona Grose was the unlucky runner-up to club champion Sue Dicker as both players returned scores of 193.

Wednesday's wind made play almost impossible but a few men battled around all 18 holes and returned scores too woeful to put into print, so the competition was cancelled.

By Thursday the wind had dropped and the ladies played the seniors in a friendly match, the seniors winning 8-2. The ladies then played a 3-2-1 competition on Saturday which was won by Doris Simm, Jane Wilkinson and Julia Waters with 66 points. Just one point behind came Roz Thomas, Antoinette Richards and Fiona McDiarmid.

This Sunday Cape will be holding the Land's End Open Competition, which is a 9am shotgun start and the format of the competition will be a 4BBB. Entry is £10 per pair and there are a few spare places available. To enter, contact Richard Bunch on 01736 788611.

Mike Jacka won Division One and the Monthly Medal at Praa Sands on Sunday with a net 59.

Penwith College netball team started their very first game with a 50-16 victory over Redruth School.

With a 17-7 lead in the first quarter with the majority of the goals scored by Lily Newell, who continued to be on fire for the remainder of the game, scoring a total of 40 goals for the team.

In the second quarter, Penwith scored a further 11 goals to five with Morwenna Charman, Hayley Smith and Ella Nowell achieving some excellent centre set plays.

At half time Penwith led 28-12 with the girls in high spirits. The third quarter saw a further 11 goals scored by Lily Newell and Ella Merriweather and the defence only conceding two goals. And the final quarter saw Penwith continue their average of 11 goals per quarter and totalled 50 goals to 16.

This is an absolutely fantastic result considering that this is the first competitive game of a newly formed team which forms part of the Truro and Penwith College Netball Academy.

The Academy programme at the college seeks to progress students sporting achievements through both general fitness and sport specific technique training and forms part of their academic timetable.

For more information about this or any of the other sports academies offered at the college please contact Teona Jackson on teonaj@truro-penwith.ac.uk.